Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover
by Hetty1204
Summary: Just a little Moriarty x Reader one-shot for y'all :) Teen!Moriarty x Teen!You


You were bored and your head hurt. You'd been sitting there for hours, in a hard plastic chair, listening to your teacher drone on and on about something to do with some guy with a moustache trying to take over the world. Dull. You turned your head to look out the window only to see that it was raining. Heavily. God, even the weather was trying to make your life hell. Yay!

After staring at water droplets run down the window for about ten minutes you turned your head to the clock that was on the other side of the room to see there was only two minutes left of school. You sighed. That meant it was only two more minutes until you had to start the long trudge home to the orphanage.

You'd been an orphan since you were five when your parents had attempted to murder you. Long story short they were arrested, nobody else in the family wanted you and as a result you found yourself in 'Miss Thornton's Orphanage for Girls'.

You heard the shrill ring of the bell signalling it was the end of school. You packed your things into your bag, slung it over your shoulder and headed out the classroom. You pushed and weaved your way through the masses of people currently occupying the corridors until finally you made it to the exit. You opened the door and walked out into the rain. Damn. You'd forgotten about that. You rummaged through your bag until you found what you were looking for, a tatty old umbrella with more holes in it than you could count on your fingers. You sighed and put the shameful thing up and proceeded to walk into the downpour.

When you finally got to the orphanage you were soaked through, your clothes were clinging to your body and your hair was plastered all over your face. You walked in and was immediately assaulted by warmth. That was the one good thing about Miss Thornton, she couldn't stand the cold. Wherever you were in the orphanage it was always warm. You walked over to the heater and put your shoes underneath it. You took out the stuff in your bag and placed that on top to dry off. After you'd done that you shuffled into your room and took off your clothes, placing them on the heater in your room. You walked into the rundown en-suite bathroom and turned the shower on. After the water had heated up you stepped in and felt all the troubles of the day wash off of you.

You stood in that shower for well over half an hour before it ran out of hot water, making you jump out and glare at it. You dried yourself off and changed into your pyjamas before crashing onto your bed. The springs creaked beneath your weight and you winced at the noise. You must have spent hours staring at the ceiling with its chipped paint and numerous stains dotted about it before slowly, slowly you drifted off to sleep.

When you awoke your stomach was contracting painfully and was making noises akin to that of a beached whale. You cursed yourself for forgetting to eat the night before. You looked over at the old busted up alarm clock that rested on your bedside table and saw that it read 06:30. You groaned and sat up. You walked over to your heater and pull off the clothes you wore yesterday. They weren't too badly creased, a quick go over with the iron and they'd be fine. You folded them over your arm before making your way to the laundry room.

You walked to the far corner of the room where the iron was kept in a small cupboard and pulled it out. You then fetched the ironing board and set it up. You placed your clothes on top and started to iron them. Halfway through you were broken from your thoughts by the sound of a person shuffling into the room. You looked up and saw that it was Hattie, her clothes slung over her shoulder, eyes half lidded, and her mouth opened in a yawn.

"Hurry up. I need to get mine done before I go to school."

You glared at her in response. You'd never liked Hattie and so, just to spite her, you decided you would take as long as was physically possible. You also deliberately took way longer than was necessary folding your neatly ironed clothes. You smirked at her then flounced out of the room without so much as a glance thrown in her direction.

Your stomach sang its whale song again and you knew you had to get food soon before you woke up the entire orphanage. You power walked the rest of the way back to your room, pausing only once to glare at your stomach in an attempt to make it stop it's bitching. You changed in record time and practically sprinted out the door to the kitchen.

When you got there there was already five other girls sitting at the table. Their ages differed greatly. You rushed over to the cupboards and pulled out the bread before taking two slices and popping them in the toaster.

"Forget to eat again kid?"

Hayley, the eldest orphan there, asked. She was seventeen and had long, black hair that reached down to her butt. She said she was growing it out so she could cut it all off when she didn't want to be recognised anymore. Pretty smart plan.

"Yeah"

She smiled at you knowingly. Hayley was the only one who ever understood you the whole time you'd been at the orphanage.

"What was it this time?"

She took a sip of her drink and looked at you as if to say 'no getting out of this one'. You sighed.

"I dunno, everything I guess."

Since you'd been at the orphanage you'd developed the habit of spacing out quite a lot. Short attention span, the social workers called it. They were wrong. It wasn't the fact that you couldn't pay attention long enough, it was just...you couldn't be bothered listening to people talking about mundane things such as 'How was your day?' or 'How are you doing?'. Those were the stupidest questions in your opinion and unfortunately the human race liked to ask them. Frequently. It was pointless because, really, the person asking doesn't want an honest answer. If the person being asked simply replied with anything other than 'fine' or 'good' then the asker wouldn't know what to do with themselves.

"Hm."

You looked at her pointedly to get her to drop the subject. She raised her hands up in mock surrender and you smiled. You were about to get lost in your thoughts again when the toast popped out and you jumped out of your skin. You spread butter on your toast then went and sat down next to Hayley. After you'd finished you said goodbye to her then went and changed into your freshly ironed clothes.

You looked at your alarm clock. 07:30. You still had enough time to get to school. You went and got everything you needed for the day before stepping out of the doors to the orphanage and starting the long, torturous walk to school.

* * *

It was during Art when you saw him, standing there at the railings to the entrance of the school. You'd started to space out again and had settled for looking out the window but just before you'd really zoned out this boy had distracted you. He was just standing there, wearing this crisp, white shirt, a pair of black dress trousers and immaculate black shoes. You blinked. He was still there, watching you. It would have been unsettling if not for the fact that he was gorgeous. He really was. He had this soft pale face and this lean figure. Then there was his eyes. They were a beautiful, rich, warm, chocolate brown. And the way he stood, as if he held so much power, made you feel all warm inside. When he smiled at you revealing these perfectly white, pearly teeth, your heart leapt in your throat.

You were transfixed by this mysterious boy but you were broken out of your trance when you heard the squeaky voice of your art teacher calling your name. You turned to look at her and saw everyone in the class was staring at you. You blushed and put your head down. Once you were sure no one was watching you turned your gaze back out the window. He was gone. There was no evidence that he'd ever been there and you frowned. Had you made him up? He had seemed too perfect to be real. You sighed and turned back to the lesson.

You'd been sitting in Biology the next day thinking about mystery boy when something had caught your eye outside the window. You looked out and saw he was standing there in the exact same spot. He looked exactly the same. You felt yourself smile and your heart fluttered again when he smiled back. He had such a kind looking face. If only you'd known then that looks could be deceiving. But you didn't and so you fell for him.

You watched him for months as he watched back and you'd started to make up traits and personalities that he could have, all based on looks of course. Hell you'd even given him a name! You'd decided his name would be Rich, short for Richard. You'd started to fantasise about a life with him. Your favourite was that he was an orphan like you and that one day he'd come and pick you up and take you away from everything. You wished for the day he would. Maybe someone should have told you to be more careful with what you wish for.

You'd been walking home, feeling ecstatic. School had been great. Most of your teachers had been off and so you'd had all the time in the world to stare at Rich. He'd smiled at you and you swore you'd seen a burning desire in his eyes. You knew this was crazy, I mean you'd never met the guy! Your whole life you'd told yourself not to fall in love because it would break you, the scars on your wrists from where your parents had left their mark were evidence enough, but you couldn't help it. He was just so perfect.

You were nearing the orphanage now, blissfully unaware of everything around me, when it happened. Suddenly this hand had clamped over your mouth and was dragging you backwards. You tried biting their hand but it was to no avail. They just kept on pulling. You kicked and bit but still you were being taken by this unknown person. Finally they stopped and spun you round so quickly that when your head hit the wall behind you it was with such a force that your vision clouded and you could see spots dotted about it.

When your vision eventually cleared you found you were looking straight into the brown eyes of Rich. But his eyes didn't look warm or at all friendly, they looked cold and intimidating. And he had this terrifying smirk on his face, like he knew something you didn't. You gulped. This was not the mysterious boy you'd fallen in love with, this was a monster! He let out a low chuckle at your obvious fear. He brought a hand to your face and slowly dragged it down, his gaze never leaving yours.

"It's such a shame such a pretty thing like you has to go to waste."

You froze in terror. What the hell did he mean by that?! He smirked again. You were about to open your mouth to voice this question but he placed a long, slender finger on your lips.

"Shh, my angel. Don't speak. Just listen," You stiffened in fear as he moved closer to you, his lips brushing your neck, "It really is a pity that I have to...burn your heart out and I was going to keep you as a little pet," You whimpered as his teeth slowly started to nibbled at your neck. You thought he was going to rape you and you realised with a start that you really didn't want him to. But he moved back until his eyes were boring into yours, "But...I'm just so changeable."

That was the last thing you heard before a searing pain entered your lower abdomen and you let out an ear-piercing scream. He smiled at you before letting you drop to the ground.

"Oh and by the way darling, the names Jim Moriarty not Rich."

He smirked and started to hum as he lazily walked away. You watched him go as you screamed in agony, tears clouding your vision, your hands stained with blood. But there was no one around to help, no one to hear your screams, so maybe you hadn't screamed at all. And as you took your last dying breaths you recognised the tune he was humming and you grimaced in irony.

Staying Alive indeed.

* * *

**Woah o.0 that ending turned out darker than I expected. Sorry I haven't been updating my Sherlock fics as much. I've just been really busy with exams and I have serious writers block but hopefully this makes up for it. Love you all :)**


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